Why so many questions now in the Member-to-Member Forum? We can't respond; limits useful discussion

[mangorunner]

Why are so many questions now posed in the Member-to-Member forum?  We miss out on so much good discussion when the majority of users cannot reply.  This week, I was researching an issue.  I found four prior posts asking my same, exact question - all four were posted in Member-to-Member - and none of them had a helpful/correct/complete response.  Later in the day, I found the answer and I was unable to respond to any of those four posts.  A little frustrating.

[mrdutch1001]

Totally agree! Many of us may have a solution but can't respond in the Member-to- Member forum. The only way to help out the member is to send a private message  and hope they appreciate your help being provided in the only way available to respond.

[sunnysouth1]

The Member To Member Support board is restricted to only eBay Mentors answering questions.

Most of the time correct answers are given.

This statement is displayed at the top of that board:

About this board

Access to answering questions on this board is restricted to members who are part of our Community Mentors program. Community Mentors are members of The eBay Community who have been recognized for offering consistent, high-quality support to other Community members. Mentors can be self-nominated, nominated by other Community users or selected by the Community Team.

[mtgraves7984]

@mangorunner, and straight to your point...

I found this board only last Fall. I've been a member for a decade-and-a-half... selling for much of that time.

I can sometime offer help based on my own experiences, but am NOT a pro.

At times, I may want to post elsewhere, but haven't found how. (I tried it once, it landed here and it was limited to certain IDs being able to respond.)

A lesson in THAT would certainly help me... can you offer advice? I'd gladly clear someone else a lane here!

[nobody*s_perfect]

To address the problem: Apply to become one of the Mentors who are allowed to respond to those posts.

Most of the posts there are from users who started out in the Help pages and couldn't find the information they needed, so they use the "Ask the Community" link at the bottom of one of the Help pages.  Sometimes it's due to just laziness or poor search skills, but often it's due to the inadequacies of the Help pages themselves.  Not only is the search process less than ideal, but a year or two ago the Help pages were completely revised and reformatted, and lots of information was lost in the translation.

For instance, the page about "Buy it now" disappearing when an auction gets a bid now just says, "In some categories, the Buy It Now option may continue to be available after the first bid for a limited time."  How vague is that!  The page used to specifically explain that the BIN remains available until the bidding reaches 50% of the BIN price, and also specified the 4 categories where this happened.  So now there are questions about persistent BINs that didn't used to appear back when the Help page was more helpful.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/selling-buy-now?id=4109

[mangorunner]

"The Member To Member Support board is restricted to only eBay Mentors answering questions.

Most of the time correct answers are given.

This statement is displayed at the top of that board:

About this board

Access to answering questions on this board is restricted to members who are part of our Community Mentors program. Community Mentors are members of The eBay Community who have been recognized for offering consistent, high-quality support to other Community members. Mentors can be self-nominated, nominated by other Community users or selected by the Community Team."

I'm aware. 

The question is why are so many posts in that board.

[mangorunner]

"The Member To Member Support board is restricted to only eBay Mentors answering questions.

Most of the time correct answers are given.

This statement is displayed at the top of that board:

About this board

Access to answering questions on this board is restricted to members who are part of our Community Mentors program. Community Mentors are members of The eBay Community who have been recognized for offering consistent, high-quality support to other Community members. Mentors can be self-nominated, nominated by other Community users or selected by the Community Team."

I'm aware. 

The question is why are so many posts in that board.

[sunnysouth1]

Members can choose to post on any board they wish. Many post there to get quick help without having a long discussion about the question.

[mangorunner]

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote:

To address the problem: Apply to become one of the Mentors who are allowed to respond to those posts.

Most of the posts there are from users who started out in the Help pages and couldn't find the information they needed, so they use the "Ask the Community" link at the bottom of one of the Help pages.  Sometimes it's due to just laziness or poor search skills, but often it's due to the inadequacies of the Help pages themselves.  Not only is the search process less than ideal, but a year or two ago the Help pages were completely revised and reformatted, and lots of information was lost in the translation.

For instance, the page about "Buy it now" disappearing when an auction gets a bid now just says, "In some categories, the Buy It Now option may continue to be available after the first bid for a limited time."  How vague is that!  The page used to specifically explain that the BIN remains available until the bidding reaches 50% of the BIN price, and also specified the 4 categories where this happened.  So now there are questions about persistent BINs that didn't used to appear back when the Help page was more helpful.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/selling-buy-now?id=4109

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I looked into it.  I don't qualify (yet) as a Mentor.

Love your example.  Thanks!

[mangorunner]

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@mtgraves7984 wrote:

@mangorunner, and straight to your point...

I found this board only last Fall. I've been a member for a decade-and-a-half... selling for much of that time.

I can sometime offer help based on my own experiences, but am NOT a pro.

At times, I may want to post elsewhere, but haven't found how. (I tried it once, it landed here and it was limited to certain IDs being able to respond.)

A lesson in THAT would certainly help me... can you offer advice? I'd gladly clear someone else a lane here!

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At the top of the eBay Community are five headers (see screenshot, below).  If you hover over or click on any of them, a menu opens revealing all of the boards and options within that header (see second screenshot, below).

 

 

[eleanor*rigby]

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@mtgraves7984 wrote:

At times, I may want to post elsewhere, but haven't found how. (I tried it once, it landed here and it was limited to certain IDs being able to respond.)

A lesson in THAT would certainly help me... can you offer advice? I'd gladly clear someone else a lane here!

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@mtgraves7984 

Circumstances/boards/threads on which a general member cannot reply include:

• Member to Member Support board
• Any thread that has been locked by the moderators
• Certain boards that require membership approval (found under the "Groups" heading)

Are you finding other threads or boards on which you can't comment? I mean, specifically? Could you post a link or screenshot to those threads or boards?

[eleanor*rigby]

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@mangorunner wrote:

Why are so many questions now posed in the Member-to-Member forum? 

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Community members post their threads on whichever boards they want to post them. I'm not sure whether I fully fathom your question, but wouldn't you have to pose it to the people who posted their threads on the Member-to-Member Support board?

[mangorunner]

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@mrdutch1001 wrote:

The only way to help out the member is to send a private message  and hope they appreciate your help being provided in the only way available to respond.

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And that method, while mighty generous of you, only helps one person.  If you could post it, your answer would be available for countless others in the future.  Like me.  😁

[mangorunner]

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@eleanor*rigby wrote:

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@mangorunner wrote:

Why are so many questions now posed in the Member-to-Member forum? 

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Community members post their threads on whichever boards they want to post them. I'm not sure whether I fully fathom your question, but wouldn't you have to pose it to the people who posted their threads on the Member-to-Member Support board?

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Yes, you are exactly technically correct; to get exact answers, I would have to ask each of them.  I was asking in a broader sense from what I have observed.  Over time, it appears to me that there has been an increase and I wondered if anyone knew why.

[eleanor*rigby]

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@mangorunner wrote:

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And that method, while mighty generous of you, only helps one person.  If you could post it, your answer would be available for countless others in the future.  Like me.  😁

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@mangorunner 

I'm aware of another member who, before he became a Community Mentor, would copy unanswered posts from that board and paste them into a brand new thread on the appropriate "public" board. He'd tag the original poster and provide an answer. In theory, the original poster saw the answer because of the tag.

As far as helping everyone, the Member to Member board can be read by any member.

[mtgraves7984]

@eleanor*rigby 

Thank you. Let me do some homework and come back...